Chapter 30 Section 3 A special exam

Let's say that Mei Yiqi and others walked around Lizhuang Town and outside the town, the river was crossed, the mountain was climbed, the wine was drunk, and the sweat was shed.On the following July 3, several graduate students will be evaluated. According to the system of the Institute of Liberal Arts of Peking University, each graduate student is assigned a regular supervisor and an associate supervisor. The scope and supervisor of the first postgraduate research of the language group are: Ma Xueliang, Chinese Studies in South Africa, tutored by Li Fanggui and Luo Changpei. Zhou Fagao, Chinese historical phonology, tutored by Luo Changpei and Ding Shengshu.

Liu Nianhe, Chinese historical phonology, tutors Luo Changpei and Wei Jiangong (unemployed). Every time a graduate student defends, both the principal and deputy supervisors should participate in it.At this time, like the graduate students in other groups, the above three graduate students will all attend the thesis defense meeting held in the Li'ao Opera House.However, during the war, subject to various conditions, the tutors and students were divided into several places by the artillery fire of the war, and some tutors, such as Wei Jiangong, had already parted ways with the Institute of Liberal Arts of Peking University, so there is no chance for teachers and students to gather together ?Therefore, not only did Zheng Tianting’s proposal in the letter to Fu Sinian that “Peking University can invite a professor to accompany him every year or every semester, so as to reduce the trouble of the Institute of History and Philology and take other responsibilities” was not implemented, that is, The defense meeting held in Lizhuang Liao also became an external form due to the lack of tutors and academic committee members. It was incomparable with the atmosphere on the campus of Peking University in Peking, and it was even more incompatible with Hu Shi, the founder of the institute. When defending his doctoral dissertation at Columbia University in the United States, the Xiaosha situation he faced was on par.

Perhaps because of the special experience that Hu Shi was humiliated, foaming at the mouth, and almost fell to the ground at Columbia University in the United States, he remembered it in his heart, and during the long years when he was in charge of academic degrees in China , appearing extraordinarily tolerant and democratic, which has made countless young children feel grateful.According to Tao Yuanzhen, a graduate student of liberal arts at Peking University, before the Anti-Japanese War, the Institute of liberal arts of Peking University often held research report meetings, and graduate students presented research reports, which were criticized by the director and tutors of the institute.Once a graduate student surnamed Han presented a research report on Buddhism during the Sui and Tang dynasties. After reading it, Hu Shi, as the director of the research institute, made the first criticism. His words were modest but eloquent. He interrupted him and said: "Mr. Hu, don't go on talking, the more you talk, the more amateurish you are." Then he pointed out the places that Hu made mistakes one by one.Hu Shi immediately stopped criticizing and asked Tang Yongtong, the tutor of the student surnamed Han and an authority on Buddhism, to continue to review the report.When the report was over, Hu Shi said: "In future reports, it's best to let us know the topic in advance, so that we can make some preparations, so as not to make wrong criticisms of Han Jun's report like I did this time!" A student surnamed Han, on the contrary, paid special attention to it and helped him a lot in his study and earning a living.Decades later, Tao Yuanzhen said with emotion: "His (Hu Shi's) democratic demeanor, applied to academics, fully rewards backward scholars, promotes academic progress, and uses excuses to maintain the dignity of teachers, suppress backwards, and rigidize academics. , it’s really not the same.”

At this time, the thesis defense of the graduate students of Peking University Research Institute, although the two tutors Zheng and Luo already knew the topics of their respective researches, they did not dare to talk like Hu Shi after listening to the report, and even made criticisms. Continue Hu Shi's magnanimous and tolerant methods.The main reason is that after these graduate students came to Lizhuang, Kunming was separated by thousands of mountains and rivers. Zheng and Luo were beyond their reach, and they were only honorary supervisors.The actual situation is that this group of students in Li Zhuang, in addition to learning from each other, rely on the books collected by the Institute of History and Philology for self-study, mainly relying on the guidance of several masters of the Institute of History and Philology.As Luo Changpei said in his "Between Cang and Er": At this time, "Ma and Liu Jun (Ma Xueliang, Liu Nianhe) were guided by Li Fanggui and Ding Wuzi (Sheng Shu), and Li Jun (Li Xiaoding) was guided by Dong Yantang. (Guest) Mr. Li, Dong, and Ding are very sincere and enthusiastic to them. According to Ma Jun, Mr. Li often forgot to eat because of discussing Sani issues with him. This is really true. He deserves the word "teaching people tirelessly". The topic of Ren Jun's (Jiyu) research is "Exploring the Origin of Neo-Confucianism". great benefit.”

As early as the Kunming period, Ma Xueliang followed Li Fanggui to Weize Village in Lunan County, Yunnan Province to conduct research on the Lolo language.The two masters and apprentices traveled in Lunan County for more than a month, each lost more than ten catties of flesh, and their fair skin had already turned gray-black. They finally recorded the vocabulary of Sani and sorted out a phonetic system .Unfortunately, due to lack of funds and time, it was not possible to further document its grammatical system. In the autumn and winter of 1940, graduate students such as Ma Xueliang and Zhang Kun moved to Lizhuang Lizhuang along with Li Fanggui and the brigade of the Institute of History and Philology.

At this time, Zheng Tianting and Luo Changpei saw Ma Xueliang's thesis, which was the result of collation and research on Sani language.Regarding the evaluation of Ma Sheng himself and his thesis, Luo Changpei made the following narration in his book "The Difficult Road to Shu": "On the morning of the third day, I asked Ma Xueliang to come to evaluate his "Sani Lulu Grammar".  … …Mr. Li told me that his thesis is considered the best among the published works on Lolo language. Although this implies rewarding future learners, after I read the first draft of the thesis, I also felt that Mr. Li’s words It’s not very good or overrated. On the one hand, I admire Ma Jun’s hard work in research, and on the other hand, I am more grateful to Mr. Li for his guidance.” Luo’s description, with warmth and sincere feelings between the lines, makes people unforgettable after reading it for a long time.After a busy day, the defense meeting ended. Both Zheng and Luo were satisfied with the papers submitted by the graduate students. Except for a few places that needed "minor repairs", they all passed.During the whole process, the tragic scene of Hu Shi's "face ashen ashes" when he was defending his dissertation at Columbia University did not happen every day.

In the early morning of July 5, Li Fanggui and his wife suddenly heard gunshots outside, and immediately woke up and went out to check.I saw the distant mountains and forests near Chestnut'ao were shrouded in blackness like ink, and there was no abnormal movement.Just about to return to the room, the gunshots came again, and became more and more intense and clearer, as if they were moving along the Yangtze River to Chestnut Au. "Bandits, they are bandits, they are either robbing or fighting." In the dark night, Li Fanggui whispered to his wife. "Do you want to wake up Principal Mei?" Mrs. Li Xu Ying asked in a low voice. At this time, Mei Yiqi was living upstairs in Li Fanggui's house.

"He may have just fallen asleep. Don't call him. It's probably nothing serious." Li Fanggui replied, and his wife Xu Ying didn't make a sound.The gunshots rang for a while, and gradually became thinner. Seeing that there was still no abnormal movement around Chestnut Ao, the Li couple returned to the room.At six o'clock in the morning, Mei Yiqi and others got up and prepared to go down the mountain. In the afternoon, they boarded a boat at Lizhuang Wharf to Yibin.During breakfast, Li Fanggui and his wife asked, "Principal, did you hear any unusual movements last night?"

Mei Yiqi shook her head and said, "It was so hot that I couldn't sleep at first, and when I fell asleep, I didn't know anything." When Li Fanggui told about the loud gunshots outside last night and concluded that it was bandits who were harassing and making trouble, Mei Yiqi was a little surprised and warned: "It seems that you should be more careful in the future. When I was in Luzhou and Xuyong, I listened to It is said that bandits in southern Sichuan have sprung up like locusts on both sides of the Sichuan River since the Anti-Japanese War. Bandits have been born in troubled times, and it has always been the same since ancient times, as long as you don’t have any accidents.” Mei Yiqi spoke intermittently, finished breakfast, and left Li’s house , bid farewell to the Institute of History and Philology and the Institute of Liberal Arts of Peking University together with Zheng and Luo, and walked down the mountain accompanied by Li Fanggui and his wife.

Arriving at a hillside, the scenery in Lizhuang town could be seen clearly, Mei Yiqi and others stopped under a big tree and said goodbye to the other party.Li and his wife looked at the three teachers and friends reluctantly, with tears in their eyes.When saying goodbye, Li Fanggui said: "If we leave today, when will we see each other again? The world is far and wide, and I'm afraid it will be far away!" This sentence caused his wife Xu Ying to burst into tears, and everyone felt sad.Mei Yiqi wrote in her diary that day: "In a chaotic world, it is difficult to gather together, and the meaning of parting is to share with each other."

At around 8:30, the Mei family came to the yard rented by the Moonfield Chinese Academy of Construction in Shangba on the outskirts of Lizhuang to visit Liang Sicheng and his wife, Liu Dunzhen and other researchers, and bid farewell. The climate in Sichuan is humid and rainy in autumn and winter, which undoubtedly made Lin Huiyin worse for Lin Huiyin, who had been in poor health in Kunming and suffered from lung disease that had not been eradicated. In the winter of 1940, when the Liang family came from Kunming, the weather was cold and the road was bumpy and tiring. In less than a month, Lin Huiyin's lung disease recurred and he had a high fever of 40 degrees for several weeks.At this time, with the war in the Republic of China, Lizhuang was in decline, and the medical and health conditions were extremely poor.It just so happened that Liang Si became a livelihood issue for building a society, and he went to Chongqing to "beg" for life and academic research funds from the Ministry of Education of the Nationalist Government.When he learned the news of his beloved wife's illness from the letter, he borrowed money from his friends in Chongqing, bought some medicines and hurried back.Despite the anxiety, it took three days and three nights of drifting on the water to get from Chongqing to Lizhuang.According to Liang Congjie's recollection, there was no specific medicine for lung disease at that time, and it was impossible to perform a lung X-ray examination. The patient could only take some medicine that did not help and suffer slowly with physical strength.Because of this illness, Lin Huiyin was bedridden.Although he still struggled to manage the family and assist Liang Sicheng in some research work when he was better, his body became weaker and weaker, and Liang Sicheng's burden of life became heavier. According to seniority, Mei Yiqi and Liang Qichao are considered to be of the same generation, while Liang Sicheng and his wife belong to the younger generation, but they do not feel like they are different generations when they get along and do things on weekdays, so the two have a good friendship.This time when Mei Yiqi and others came to Lizhuang, they did not forget this lovely couple. On June 30, several people made a special trip to visit the Liang family. Lin Hui was unable to get up because of illness, and they talked for about half an hour in the ward So he left in a hurry, in order to "fear that it would be too sad". This time, Mei Yiqi and other three people went down the mountain to "see Mrs. Liang's illness again", which moved Liang and Lin's couple very much. chat.Regarding the situation at that time, Mei Yiqi recorded in his diary: "Everyone sat on the porch, it was quite cool. Huiyin was lying on a row of beds, and Yun had a slight fever due to getting up the day before yesterday. Everyone advised him not to talk too much, but it took a while." sit." When Mei Yiqi asked Liang Sicheng about his life and work recently, Liang said sadly: "In addition to Huiyin's illness, due to the economic distress of the construction society, he did not get much money for 'begging' from the Chongqing government. I haven't carried out any pioneering work in the past few years, and I can't organize field trips. It's just that the cat is in this house, sorting out the materials of the field trips in Kunming in the past two years. , continue to sort out. The research report of Foguang Temple was sorted out in Changsha and Kunming, and the draft was brought along with it when it was moved to Lizhuang. Now I just take this opportunity to go out for investigation due to lack of funds. If this report can be completed smoothly Finished, and I am going to write an English book on the history of Chinese architecture" Yunyun.When Mei Yiqi and the others heard this, a feeling of sadness filled their hearts, and they didn't know how to continue the topic.Finally, both the host and the guest talked about some daily affairs. Lin Huiyin, who was reclining on the canvas bed, thought that Li Zhuang lacked medical care and medicine, which was not conducive to recuperation. Friends live, work and live together.After hearing this, Mei Yiqi felt deeply that the other party's condition would hardly improve in a short period of time based on her medical knowledge, and she might have to spend a long time on the cot in front of her.Moreover, moving from Li Zhuang to Kunming is not easy, so there is no response. The conversation ended in a gloomy and depressing atmosphere. Mei, Zheng, and Luo left the architectural society, and after eating cold noodles made in Hubei at Li Ji's home at No. The boat is coming.At this time, Dong Zuobin, Rui Yifu, Yang Shifeng, Tao Menghe, Li Ji, Liang Sicheng, Liang Siyong and others all came to see him off.Li Ji's father and poet--Old Master Li (Ying Ke) also walked tremblingly from home to join the procession, which made Mei very disturbed.When parting, Mrs. Li shook hands with Mei Yiqi and said, "Farewell to Jiang Gan." After hearing this, Mei felt a burst of sadness in her heart, "I can't help but feel sad between the words." At three o'clock in the afternoon, the Changfeng ship arrived at Lizhuang Wharf from downstream, and boarded the ship with a ground float (barge). Liang Sicheng insisted on riding the "ground float" alone to send Mei Yiqi and his party to the ship.Looking at Sicheng's thin body and overworked sallow face, and thinking of Lin Huiyin's tearful and pitiful eyes when he was lying on the hospital bed to see him out, Mei Yiqi couldn't help but feel "I'm right." This young couple is even more concerned about Nian Ye" with emotion.With endless blessings and gratitude, the Changfeng Ferry, carrying three academic giants, sailed towards Yibin against the turbulent river.